OTTAWA — His father was an army cadet too young to see active service in the Second World War but who swore never to forget the horrors of the Holocaust.

So when Stephen Harper was growing up in Toronto with his two brothers, he learned from his dad, Joseph Harper — a man he later described as the “greatest influence” on his life.

Joseph Harper, an accountant who became a member of the Presbyterian Church, was a student of military history who despised totalitarianism.

He had seen what it can produce, how Hitler’s Nazis had obliterated six million Jews from the face of Europe. He understood why the Jews wanted a Jewish state called Israel to prosper and be safe.

All this left a mark on Stephen Harper that carried through into his years as Canada’s prime minister. By then, he had adopted a fervent and unapologetic pro-Israel policy.

As Harper leaves Saturday for a week-long trip to the Middle East — where he will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan — the legacy of his deceased father’s lesson burns strong.

“It’s a promise he made to his father, a man who had experienced World War II and saw the depths to which humanity could go and how Jews were singled out in a particular war,” said Shimon Fogel, head of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

Harper will lead a high-powered delegation of cabinet ministers and meet both Israel’s prime minister and the president of the Palestinian Authority. His visit comes at a critical time in the region, with the United States trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Harper’s critics say he brings a simplistic, black and white view to the complex affairs of the region, where Israelis and Palestinians have spent decades embroiled in conflict over land.

NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said that Harper — by embracing Israel’s Likud government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — has abandoned Canada’s ability to be seen as a “bridge-builder” between Israelis and Palestinians.

“They set up a false choice and put it out there that if you’re not with us, you’re against us. And if you’re not with the government sworn in in Israel, then you’re against the people of Israel. Which is nonsense.”

But close friends, colleagues, and leaders of the Canadian Jewish community insist there is something very critical that motivates Harper: Principle, moral certitude, and an ever-lasting duty to his father.

“It is pure principle,” declared Fogel, who said he has talked to Harper about the influence of his father, who died three years before he became prime minister.

Israel President Shimon Peres talks with Canadian Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper before a meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday May 7, 2012. Harper will make history in Israel next week when he becomes the first Canadian leader to address the Israeli legislature. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

“He brought them up this way but I think that at some point he recognized that his son was going to have the potential to make an impact, and to make a difference. And he extracted a commitment from his son that if he was ever in a position to help the Jewish people, not only should he, but that he must.”

Employment Minister Jason Kenney, who has been Harper’s point man in fighting anti-Semitism, said the prime minister’s father had friends in Toronto who were survivors of the Holocaust.

“You couldn’t live and work in Leaside in Toronto in the 1950s and 60s and not know survivors,” said Kenney.

“My understanding is the prime minister’s father conveyed to him the moral obligation that we had to be in solidarity with the Jewish people following the Holocaust. So I think this is something that he has always naturally felt.”

Kenney insists the Tories have brought a “balanced approach” to supporting Israel while also funding the development of institutions for Palestinians as they strive for their own state.

But ultimately, he said Harper has ended the “moral relativism” in which previous Canadian governments responded to terrorist attacks against Israel by urging “both sides” to stop the cycle of violence.

“What that implied was a moral equivalence between terrorism and counter-terrorism, between aggression and defence.”

When Harper announced in December that he would be making his first trip to the area, he was effusive in his praise for Israel, calling it a “light of freedom and democracy in what is otherwise a region of darkness.”

Among the examples of Harper’s allegiance:

— When Hamas won a victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, Harper’s government was the first to cut off aid and diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority.

— Later that year, when Hezbollah used its base in Lebanon to capture two Israeli soldiers and fire rockets into border towns, killing a handful of people, Israel responded with a forceful military campaign that Harper described as “measured.”

— At a summit in 2011, Harper prevented a move by U.S. President Barack Obama to have G8 leaders declare that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations must be based on land borders that existed before Israel extended its control of the region in a 1967 war.

— In November of 2012, when the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to provide Palestine “non-member Observer status”, Canada was one of just nine countries to vote against and its foreign affairs minister, John Baird, spoke out forcefully at the UN against the move.

— In April of 2013, Baird broke diplomatic custom by going to East Jerusalem to meet an Israeli cabinet minister. Although Israel has annexed that part of the city, the international community, including Canada, considers it “occupied territory” and the Palestinians, who want it as a future capital of their state, say Baird should have done nothing to lend credence to the Israelis’ claim.

These actions have helped Harper forge a strong personal bond with Netanyahu, who has praised him as a “real leader” who “doesn’t follow the herd” and refuses to be “politically correct.”

“Stephen leads and he has stood up for Israel,” said the Israeli prime minister last December. “He has stood up for the truth, time and time again. And especially he has stood up when this has been unfashionable, unpopular.”

Now, say critics, it’s time for Harper to put that trusted connection with Netanyahu to good use next week by urging him to adopt a serious approach to peace talks with Palestinians.

“If you’re going to be helpful to your friends you’ve got to be able to talk to them honestly,” said Liberal foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau.

“Not only to tell them that you support them very strongly but you also have to be able to make some constructive suggestions on occasion.”

Mark Kennedy arrived on Parliament Hill in 1988 as an Ottawa Citizen political reporter and has covered eight federal election campaigns. He won a National Newspaper Award for enterprise reporting and... read more spent a decade specializing in health-care coverage. He is currently parliamentary bureau chief at The Ottawa Citizen.View author's profile